Accessibility links

Business and Financial News Find the latest business news with reports on Wall Street, interest rates, banking, companies, and U.S. and world financial markets. Subscribe to the Business Story of the Day podcast.

Business

Economy

'Marketplace' Report: Home Sales Up?

Although home sales fell 20 percent overall in 2007, sales of single-family homes rose 0.4 percent last month according to a new report. Marketplace's Sam Eaton examines what this means for potential buyers and sellers.

'Marketplace' Report: Home Sales Up?

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17722464/17722441" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Technology

iPhone Cited as Year's Best Innovation

Tech guru Mario Armstrong claims the iPhone as the year's best technology innovation. The iPhone's touch-screen technology, visual voicemail, and integration of the digital camera, iTune software brought new energy to the design of cell phones.

iPhone Cited as Year's Best Innovation

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17716257/17716232" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Economy

The 2007 Economy in Review

2007 was a year when oil prices soared, home sales plunged and the U.S. dollar took a dive. But it was also a year when the U.S. economy performed well — at least until the last quarter — and the stock markets' major indexes are set to finish the year higher.

The 2007 Economy in Review

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17716248/17716229" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Economy

Boating Industry Slump Could Signal Recession

Economists looking for signs of a recession might want to keep an eye on recreational boating, a $40 billion a year industry that has proved in the past to be a bellwether for the rest of the economy.

Boating Industry Slump Could Signal Recession

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17620887/17716237" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Economy

Will Tough Economic Times Persist in New Year?

The subprime woes and the resulting foreclosures is the biggest economic story of 2007. What are the economic ramifications of the sharp dive in the subprime mortgage markets, or the recalls for defective toys in China? And what are the prospects for 2008?

Will Tough Economic Times Persist in New Year?

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17691822/17691796" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sports

NFL Does About-Face on Patriots-Giants Game

This weekend, the New England Patriots could make NFL history, going undefeated for a full, 16-game season. And were it not for a last-minute about-face by the NFL and its network, the game would not have aired in half of all American households.

NFL Does About-Face on Patriots-Giants Game

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17680956/17680998" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

National

Snow Plentiful at Colo. Ski Resorts After Slow Start

As the Northeastern United States enjoys a good snow following last year's abysmal snowfall, the year has been mixed in the West, where Colorado's season got off to a slow start.

Snow Plentiful at Colo. Ski Resorts After Slow Start

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17680945/17680904" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

National

Business Is Booming on East Coast Slopes

The East Coast ski industry got exactly what it wanted for the holidays: snow, and a lot of it. Slopes are packed and business is booming, a big change from last year's warm weather that hammered the early ski season. Will the good times last?

Business Is Booming on East Coast Slopes

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17680941/17680903" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Economy

'Marketplace' Report: Avoiding Subprime Risk

Subprime interest rates are tied to more than mortgages — they affect credit cards, payday loans and auto loans. Marketplace's Steve Tripoli offers tip on how consumers can avoid the risks associated with these.

'Marketplace' Report: Avoiding Subprime Risk

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17675393/17675358" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Media

'The Wire' to Focus on Baltimore Newspaper

The final season of the HBO series The Wire, which dramatizes how real-world institutions and leaders repeatedly failed the people of Baltimore, gets under way Jan. 6. Creator David Simon is turning his critical eye on journalism, namely The Baltimore Sun.

'The Wire' to Focus on Baltimore Newspaper

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/17668964/17669232" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript